This weekend I went to NYC to celebrate the holidays with my boyfriend. The city was much busier than usually with the streets filled with shoppers and visitors. We had dinner at Candle Cafe’s new west side location. Dinner was fantastic and I plan on writing a blog post soon with photos and my review. So stay tuned!

Yesterday I was grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and I came across a new Trader Joe’s branded vegan mozzarella cheese! The cheese is in shreds and the package says it melts just like real cheese. Looking at the package, the shreds look similar to the Galaxy Nutritional Foods shreds I’ve seen at Whole Foods. The Trader Joe’s shreds cost $3.29, which is a few dollars savings over Daiya, and were found in the refrigerated section near the tofu and vegan meats at my Trader Joe’s. I’ve always been disappointed that Trader Joe’s didn’t have any vegan cheese so this was surprising and very welcomed! I’ll be reviewing the shreds in a later post so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss my review!

While I was shopping I also picked up the Trader Joe’s branded vegan meatballs that I planned on preparing for dinner. I usually make my own meatballs but I was feeling a bit lazy so these came in handy. The meatballs need to be cooked on a skillet so they remain together, otherwise you might end up with a meat sauce instead. These meatballs taste really good and have a taste similar to real meatballs. They are great in pasta and would be good in a sub sandwich as well. The packaging shows them in sandwiches, which I think makes the meatballs look big. I would say they are small to medium in size. They retail for $3.99 and were in the frozen section at my Trader Joe’s. I would definitely recommend these meatballs.

One last note, the non-profit for which I am a board member of is hosting our annual holiday dinner at New Harmony restaurant in Chinatown. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, I would suggest attending this event! This is a great event to attend to meet new people and enjoy a vegan Chinese food buffet. Tickets are $20 and include tax, tip, and a small donation to Peace Advocacy Network, a 501c3 non-profit based in Philadelphia. Beer and wine will be available for an additional donation! The event is Thursday, 12/27 from 7-10pm. You can find out more at the Facebook event page (link) or by going to the PAN webpage (link).

Be sure to subscribe to my blog and let me know if you have any comments on some of the products I’ve mentioned in this post!